JAYNE INTERVIEWS CHRISTINA DODD

Jayne here, and have I got a hot-off-the-beach interview for you! Yesiree, one of my favorite writers, Christina Dodd, has a new book out and, while I was absolutely devastated that I was not asked to give an advance quote, I have chosen to let it go and not take it as a personal affront. I am a bigger person than that. Okay, so it meant I didn't get a free advance reading copy and had to actually go out and buy my own. It was definitely worth it! Welcome, Christina!

Christina: Thank you for having me, Jayne! It's always great to have the chance to visit with you and Suzanne and Susan and Lori and ... who are the other two? The one who hands out Running With Quills cards and the one who makes rude comments about my plucked breasts? No matter. It's great to be here!

Jayne: Okay, let's get right to the good stuff. Inquiring minds want to know where did you get the idea for TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS?

Christina: Wal-mart.

Jayne: Oh, yeah, right. Wal-mart. Give me a break.

Christina: Sure! Didn't you know? "Ideas for sale." They're on the aisle right between the dog food and the service desk.

Jayne: Huh. Never thought of trying there. I've been shopping at Nordstroms. Excuse me. I'll be back in a minute.

(Christina waits while Jayne toodles down to check it out.)

Jayne: Okay, I'm back. Wow. There was a sale. Ahem, tell us more about your shopping experience.

Christina: Actually, TROUBLE had a rough beginning. I was starting a romantic suspense series, the Fortune Hunters. I had gotten approval for a book set in New Orleans and had written about a hundred pages, and in fact was going to fly for research on the day Katrina hit the city. I knew I had to wait to write that story, but I had a deadline I needed to meet and I had no back-up plot.

So I went to Wal-mart and browsed the book section, looking for a deep, intellectual, meaningful read that would elevate the tenor of my mind. Of course, I headed right for the Harlequin Presents which are my favorite books of all time.

Jayne: Classic romance.

Christina: They're short, really basic books featuring a rich, domineering hero and a poor, dumb heroine whose deadbeat brother steals from said hero, then blackmails the heroine into becoming his mistress for a week and of course they have great sex, then she has a secret baby, then they have to get married, then they struggle against their love for each other before finally giving in and having great sex forever.

Jayne: What's not to love about 'em?

Christina: I know. Harlequin Presents are romance boiled down to its most basic form. Love them. Anyway - I picked up a book titled something like THE VIRGIN'S ONE NIGHT STAND WITH A TYCOON, and read the back. Her fiancé dumped her and her tycoon boss thoughtfully offered to help her out with a one night stand. What a guy. I flipped through the first few pages. The heroine was whiny and guilty which I hated. She should have been in a magnificent towering rage. Next I hit the romantic suspense, picked up STAB ME THROUGH MY TENDER HEART (fake title, I have no idea what it really was) and read the back. This woman slept with the wrong guy. He hid his cocaine (or some nefarious thing) in her house, and now someone was trying to kill her and she had to depend on the help of a noble policeman/private detective/FBI agent to get her out of this mess.

Jayne: But of course, you being you, that perfectly sensible plot wasn't good enough, was it? Why not?

Christina: I liked the bad guy!

Jayne: Figures. So, you got to thinking...

Christina: What if her fiancé dumped her, she picked out a guy to sleep with and it was a bad guy - and she couldn't get rid of him? She would have just stepped in a huge pile of doo! As soon as I thought that one phrase - She would have just stepped in a huge pile of doo! - I knew I had a plot. Because that's what I look for in a plot - a big pile of doo for the characters to step in. So TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS involves at least two ideas mushed together (there's some PINK PANTHER and LEGALLY BLONDE in there, too.)

Jayne: That's all? You knew the whole plot from that?

Christina: Okay, no. Plotting the actual moment-to-moment action is difficult for me. But I didn't have time to fool around, so I took what I knew about the story and wrote as much of the synopsis as quickly as I could. When I got stuck, I called author friends and begged them to help me brainstorm, I woke up at night and sweated as I tried to figure out how to stage a jewel robbery, I plotted with my husband, I sent the synopsis to my editor and brainstormed with her. And I started writing even though I didn't know exactly where I was going. Despite all that uncertainty and panic, the book went together like a dream and I think it's one of the best things I've ever written. To me it's a rare and wonderful treat, a gift book blessed by the gods of creativity. It turned out so well my publisher is guaranteeing it's a good read - as in, if you don't like it you can return it for a full refund.

Jayne: Trust me, no one's going to do that. What's up next?

Christina: TONGUE IN CHIC, the second book in the Fortune Hunter series, comes out in February, and there's an excerpt for that in the back of TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS. I just got the cover, and it's glorious! Plus next summer I'll publish the first two books in my new paranormal series.

Jayne: Hot dang, Christina Dodd does paranormal! Can't wait! Thank you so much for being with us today.

Christina: Thank you for allowing me to guest with you, Jayne, and with all the nice people here at Running With Quills! And you, too, Elizabeth! And Stella, look - I'm handing out Squawk Radio postcards! And I've got the commercial for TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS up on my website in my members section! Check it out at http://www.christinadodd.com .

Now I am taking my plucked breasts and skedaddling back to work. But I'll be back!

Jayne: Even though I was not asked for a quote for the book (an oversight, I'm sure) I am going to give it one anyway: "People, run, do not walk to the nearest store and buy TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS (or click on one of the links below). You will love it!"